“They both want to be kind of considered the No. 1.”

The way Indians manager Terry Francona sees things, he has two starting catchers. The situation with Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez is not a traditional setup, where one plays the bulk and the other slots in once in a while.

Francona is quick to cite the Royals, who hand most of the innings to Salvador Perez and then work in Drew Butera on occasion.

“We’re never going to be like that,” Francona said on Wednesday. “Our guys are too close together, where we need them to play more than that. So, they will.”

Here’s the thing, though. One of the catchers will accumulate more innings than the other. And, no matter how much Francona likes to avoid slapping labels on any of his players, that means one will be the de facto starter. The only question is whether that will wind up being Gomes or Perez.

Going back to August, the No. 1 job in this 1A and 1B setup has been trending in Perez’s direction.

Over the 2017 season as a whole, Gomes caught the most innings (856 compared to 580.2 for Perez) and had the most starts (96 to 66). That is a considerable gap. The inning distribution takes on a different look upon closer examination.

From August through the American League Division Series, Gomes (286.2) and Perez (278) will essentially in a 50/50 timeshare. In September, Perez (146) overtook Gomes (120) in innings behind the plate, and then more than doubled Gomes’ innings (32 to 15) in innings during the ALDS.

You might recall that Cleveland had a little winning streak across August and September, too. OK, it was a big winning streak (22 games) — the longest in AL history. Well, if you slice a line in the game log at Aug. 24, when The Streak began, Perez caught 205 innings to 171 for Gomes through the end of the ALDS.

Does this mean Perez will open this season as the primary catcher?

Francona isn’t ready to make that kind of declaration.

“I don’t know,” said the manager. “I told both of them, ‘We’re fortunate we have two good catchers.’ They both want to be kind of considered the No. 1. I get it. My guess is that — I know I’ve used the word ‘organically’ — but it’ll kind of work itself out. Like, OK, one or the other is probably catching more than the other, but nobody’s not going to play.”

So, who should be the starter?

Gomes won a Silver Slugger Award back in 2014, but hasn’t been the same caliber of hitter in the seasons since. Injuries played a role in that diminished production at times. Perez has shown flashes of his potential, but he has been underwhelming as a hitter, too.

In 2017, Perez turned in a .207/.291/.373 slash line with a 75 wRC+, indicating that he was 25-percent below league average as a hitter. Gomes posted a .232/.309/.399 slash with an 87 wRC+. They both did heat up some down the stretch. Perez hit .269 (.935 OPS) from The Streak onward, while Gomes hit .294 (.882 OPS) in September.

If you look at WAR, Gomes has the edge over Perez via Fangraphs (1.8 to 0.5) and Baseball-Reference (1.3 to 0.8). Neither of those versions of WAR factor in defensive metrics for catchers. That is, however, included in Baseball Prospectus’ WARP. That is where Perez (1.81) has the advantage over Gomes (1.63).

Let’s run down some of BP’s catching numbers for Gomes and Perez in 2017…

FRAMING RUNS
Perez 12.5 (6th in MLB)
Gomes 0.7 (34th)

BLOCKING RUNS
Perez 1.8 (5th)
Gomes 0.4 (33rd)

THROWING RUNS
Gomes 2.2 (7th)
Perez 0.5 (22nd)

FIELDING RUNS ABOVE AVERAGE
Perez 14.4 (7th)
Gomes 3.2 (20th)

Perez’s framing ability in 2017 was elite. Consider that he had roughly 1,500 fewer framing chances than Gomes, per BP, and still rated that much higher. In fact, among the six catchers with at least 12 Framing Runs, Perez had the fewest chances:

8,279 chances: Martin Maldonado (18.4 FR)
6,738 chances: Yasmani Grandal (17.6 FR)
6,708 chances: Austin Hedges (20.8 FR)
5,349 chances: Tyler Flowers (25.8 FR)
4,645 chances: Caleb Joseph (13.3 FR)
4,262 chances: Roberto Perez (12.5 FR)

When you consider that they are not that different in terms of offensive ability, and that Perez rated that much better as an overall defender last season, it starts to make sense why he started to garner more of the innings down the stretch and into the postseason.

I wouldn’t expect Perez to assume a Salvador Perez-type workload here, but he seems like a safe bet to open the year as the No. 1A catcher in this Cleveland tandem. And this isn’t even where the intrigue surrounding the Indians’ catchers ends.

Behind Gomes and Perez is 22-year-old catcher Francisco Mejia, who was named the Indians’ No. 1 prospect on Wednesday by MLB Pipeline, and was ranked as the top catching prospect in baseball before Spring Training. Mejia is in camp for the second spring in a row and already looks like he is far more comfortable with his big league surroundings.

With a veteran pitching staff serving as the backbone of its roster and October aspirations, Cleveland likes its combination of Gomes and Perez in the Majors. They are also under contract through 2019 and 2020, respectively, with a pair of team options tacked onto each of their contracts.

“I know Cleveland’s definitely got a lot to look forward to when he gets here,” Gomes said. “But right now, it’s still ours.”

Over the offseason, Mejia played third base in the Arizona Fall League to add some versatility to his game. The idea did not come from any concern on Cleveland’s part that Mejia can’t handle being a big league catcher. It stemmed from the desire to see if there might be another avenue for expediting Mejia’s path to the Majors.

“What we told him was, it’s not an indictment on his catching,” Francona said. “We actually think he’s a really good catcher, and he’s getting better. But, with his bat, we’re trying to find a way to maybe get him tot he Major Leagues a little bit quicker.”

Unless there is an unforeseen setback, that probably will not be on Opening Day. He is likely ticketed for Triple-A Columbus and then — if there is a need during the season — Cleveland can then discuss if Mejia’s time has arrived.

“He’s a really well thought of young catcher,” Francona said. “I mean, I don’t think he’s even been to Triple-A. So, there’s nothing wrong with him getting some seasoning there and then, if something happens to one of our guys, then we need to make the determination, ‘Is he the next guy? Is he ready to be in that role?’”

And, in the meantime, Gomes and Perez will divvy up the duties.

“We’ve got two good catchers right now,” Francona said.

— JB